Very good movie!
With some very good actors!
Rock Hudson
Julie London
Jayne Meadows
John Russel

Perhaps I overstated, yet I remember the Pre TV days, Raised by Grandmother & Her Mother, these type of Films are Still Nostalgia of My Youth, I was born 1949. We had no TV until 1956 or '57. We had a RCA Radio, I remember Listening to "Paul Harvey...Good Day!" at noon. Even as a Young Man, a Dentist in Hot Springs AR. often worked on my Teeth for $10.00, Extraction, or $15 to Fill. Next door my Optomitrist, Looked like the Fat Man! I reckon the Ideals of People as Good Hearted lived until 1974, these 2 Doctors passed on, dentists would Gouge You if you needed a Tooth Pulled. But as for Dashell Hammit, I retired to San Francisco, home of Archive dot org AND Dahshell Hammit, there is a Street named after him. I think, with good evedance, that after Herb Caen Died, the Spirit of Goodness here withered. Yet, People are Still good, but TV makes them SEEM Bad! I went through EE School, and still have a HAM License, so I understand how the Horozontal Synch on the Raster sets the Brain Wave into Alpha state, TV is TB of the Mind. People rather give up Cigarets than TV. I Love these Post WW2 Movies. I Was There, The People Were Much as Depicted in the Movies.

I enjoyed this movie. I have read that this was the first in what was supposed to be a series of Fat Man movies, but because Dashiell Hammett came under suspicion of being a communist and went to jail for contempt that all things Dashiell quickly became taboo. That' s too bad. Between this movie and the radio broadcasts I have download here I enjoyed them all, there just isn't enough of the Fat Man to go around

A great way to spend seventy minutes. Very well acted. Nice moving screenplay. A few minor drop-outs. Audio and Video okay - not perfect - but okay. Well worth your time. Enjoy!

There were many "crossovers"/"spin-offs" in the "Golden Age" of Radio...making the trasition to films, and, later TV. "The Fat Man" movie spun-off of the radio show of the same name... did only one film...but it worked.

J. Scott Smart, Radio's iconic "Fat Man", stars in the lead, of course. But the addition of a young Rock Hudson was good casting. AND, the always-delicious at any age,Julie London, shows why she became so popular in later years: She was beautiful, classy, sexy, and, had a voice that could smoke the tires off of a '51 Buick at 20 paces ! Always loved her...even as a kid.

OH ! And look for one of the most-famous Circus Clowns of all-time in a rare appearance: Emmett Kelly.

If you've listened to "The Fat Man" Radio Shows, you'll truly enjoy this. If you haven't, go to the Old Time Radio Section of the Internet Archive, find "The Fat Man" Page, and start listening with Show #23...that begins the American Episodes, and you'll enjoy those too ! (Earlier #1-#22 are from the Australian run of the show).

Quite interesting movie. The previous reviewer seems to have the same associations as I have, Cannon + Nero Wolfe = Fat Man. Except that both vannot be imagined dancing which the Fat Man does quite well.

The audio is very noisy, especially in the beginning. (10.06.2010)

EDIT (05.06.2011): There is a much better copy of this film available here: http://www.archive.org/details/Fat_Man_1951

Love this movie. Seen it previously. Never get tired of it. Great characters...J. Scott smart is exceptional. Love the character...Brad Runyan. Well developed...in more than one way...lol. Wish they made more Fat Man movies. Radio program was good also..have listened to episodes on Archive.

J. Scott Smart was excellent in the role of "The Fat Man," both on radio and in this movie. The plot made sense, progressed nicely, and came to a satisfactory conclusion. The supporting cast members were a pleasure to watch, some of them being favorite actors and actresses of mine. For those viewers not familiar with the radio version with J. Scott Smart in the title role, do yourself a favor and listen to the radio counterpart on the Internet Archive.

Well written, well acted, by more than just a few of the actors. Rock Hudson (playing Roy, the name he was born with), John Russell(the Lawman from t.v.), playing a bad guy, Julie London(need I say more) and the Fat Man(J. Scott Smart)looking, acting and sounding ever so much like Jackie Gleason, great movie.

This is an interesting movie much like a Perry Mason story but out of the office and courtroom drama. Alot of the city life going on chefs, clowns, and high end cuisine. Everyone is artful in acting, the clowns mobile home was most efficient but no running water that I could see. Good movie, but the fat man was too happy at the end. Or another fine meal cheers him up so after a clown is found to be the murderer and is killed.

I truly enjoyed this movie. It kept me guessing for quite a while before I figured out who the murderer was. Rock Hudson has a small part in this one. He is wonderful and was so great looking. Julie London is beautiful, was beautiful and always will be beautiful. The fat man is a character I wish had made many movies. He is kind of a cross between Cannon and Nero Wolf. Though not a great movie its a very good movie. The acting is super. The story is good. There are a very few glitches with skips but all in all it's a pretty good print and well worth seeing.